Son restores ’68 Mustang as gift for dad

The car was upgraded with power steering and a high-performance engine.

NICK PROCAYLO Nick Procaylo, Vancouver Sun

Ben Taddei with his father Benito, and the restored Mustang in Coquitlam. The car was upgraded with power steering and a high-performance engine. PHOTOS: Nick Procaylo/PNG

NICK PROCAYLO Nick Procaylo, Vancouver Sun

The car was upgraded with power steering and a high-performance engine.

NICK PROCAYLO Nick Procaylo, Vancouver Sun

The car was upgraded with power steering and a high-performance engine.

NICK PROCAYLO Nick Procaylo, Vancouver Sun

The car was upgraded with power steering and a high-performance engine.

NICK PROCAYLO Nick Procaylo, Vancouver Sun

The car represents a strong family bond among and an immigrant success story

by
Alyn Edwards, Vancouver Sun | January 2, 2013

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The short version of the story is that Vancouver-area home builder Ben Taddei had his father’s original 1968 Mustang fastback restored from top to bottom to give back to him in better-than-new condition this Christmas. But the car represents so much to the family that the story can only be understood in full context.

Benito (Benny) Taddei and Antonina Ferrari grew up five blocks apart in a little village near Aquila, Italy and started dating when she was just 14 years old. He was from a family of six boys and his father said there wasn’t enough property for all his sons to inherit. So Benny followed his older brother to Vancouver in 1957 and started a new life at the age of 21. Two years later, Antonina arrived in Vancouver and they married.

Benny was an expert tile and marble installer and worked hard. He had a flair for style and eventually opened his own hair styling salon. He called it House of Ferrari to honour his wife’s maiden name and the styling of his favourite Italian sports car.

By the fall of 1967, Benny Taddei had a thriving salon with 18 stylists and a hobby farm in Richmond. In October of that year, he spotted a new red 1968 Mustang that had just arrived in the showroom of Musgrove Ford at Main Street and Kingsway in Vancouver.

“I loved the beautiful fastback styling and the red reminded me of the Ferrari sports cars from Italy,” he recalls of the moment he first laid eyes on the gleaming pony car.

Benny paid the asking price of $5,102 believing that he would miss the opportunity if he went away to think about it. His son Ben was just two months old when the Mustang came home. Antonina had learned to drive and the Mustang became their family car.

“This was my dad’s first new car,” Ben Taddei says, adding, “Before that, he drove around in a used 1952 Buick with a rusted-out floor.”

He says his parents worked hard and saved to buy their first home and, when they paid it off, they bought the car.

“The Mustang represents their youth and energy and my dad’s passion for sporty cars, good design and beautiful things. “

Before the years of mandatory seat belts, Ben always rode up front with his mother. His dad would let him shift the transmission and have his hand on the steering wheel.

“I felt so grown up and cool while I could hardly see over the dashboard,” he says.

He recalls travelling in the car after late-night departures from visits with aunts, uncles and cousins: “I would crawl into the back area behind the fold down rear seat and look up at the stars through the rear window. I thought the moon was following me home.”

When Ben reached the age of eight in the mid-1970s, his father began teaching him how to drive the car on the deserted farm roads in Richmond. By the time he was 10, he was going solo in the Mustang driver’s seat with his dad as co-pilot.

His “job” every Saturday was to back the Mustang out of the carport and wash it.

“I used to turn on the radio and diligently clean the car inside and out,” he says.

About two months after he got his driver’s licence, he was showing off to friends in the car and drove into a curb at full speed. Only the wheel and suspension were damaged but Ben felt terrible.

“I thought I had destroyed my dad’s car,” he recalls.

One year ago, father and son drove the car to a restoration shop in Coquitlam and committed the Mustang to a full rotisserie restoration. Ben decided to update the car with modern power steering, power disc brakes, a high-performance engine coupled to a 5-speed manual transmission, Shelby exhaust and American Racing wheels. The Mustang gleams with its new candy apple red paint.

The Mustang will get a green bow for Christmas.

“Everything I have today I owe to my parents,” the proud son admits. “They gave me love, a good home and an education.”

And so Ben’s wish is to give them back their Mustang in brand new condition.

“I had the car restored a bit selfishly — a little the way I wanted. But options were added that were available at the time that my father couldn’t afford. I’m fortunate to be in a financial position to do this and I want my dad to have some fun with the car,” he says.

Ben is looking forward to once again being in the car with his family.

“My dad and I will drive the Mustang together and he’ll use it whenever he wants to — probably more than I will because he is long retired.”

Ben hopes to eventually pass the Mustang on to his daughter who is now six.

“Who knows: maybe she will fall in love with the car like I did. As I did when I was a toddler, she has spent time in the front seat of ‘Nonna’s car’ honking the horn.

“The difference this time was that the car was parked in the garage. Seatbelt laws you know.”

Alyn Edwards is a classic car enthusiast and partner in Peak Communicators, a Vancouver-based public relations company. aedwards@peakco.com